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Monday, October 12, 2009

Well, if my blog title is right, I am officially a foodie as of today.

As one might expect, my birthday certainly saw its share of eating. I have a birthday twin at work, Linda, and she and I chose Yanagi (which is near our office) for our joint birthday meal. (My [previously-written] Yelp review of Yanagi is here). They did not disappoint; fresh sushi and friendly service for a boisterous group of eleven, all at very reasonable prices.

They heard it was our birthdays, so they gave us each a lovely mochi dessert, too. Despite the fact that we had cake waiting at the office, we couldn't possibly turn this down (although we did share). It was wonderful - I never thought to drizzle honey on my mochi, but it added a nice depth to the flavor, particularly on the mango version (there was also a green tea version, which I didn't photograph).

Did I mention that we had cake waiting at the office? Oops.

I had to run an errand after work and got a couple of birthday phone calls, so didn't get around to dinner until nearly 9:00. I was starting to get tired and a little chilly from our gray, cooler weather, and developed a craving for Thai food - specifically, good pad thai, the way I make it. Unfortunately, I was too tired to make it myself, and Austin has a sad dearth of good pad thai, so I made do with the pad thai at Titaya's. It was WAY too saucy, but at least satisfied my spicy noodle craving. I think I may downgrade my Titaya's review to three stars, though; the last couple of times I've been there, I haven't been all that enthusiastic about my food.

Saucy...not in the good way.

I did, however, enjoy my banana roll dessert (mangoes with sticky rice are out of season, now. Boo.).

Apparently, it was unauthentic-Thai-food day.

Lest you think I'm going to end my birthday blog on such an uninspired note, I also must share the unbelievably decadent gift that my dear friend Peter (one of the few people I know whose passion for food may very well exceed my own) sent me last Friday in honor of my 40th. A gigantic basket from Hudson Valley Foie Gras, overflowing with duck leg confit, smoked magret duck breasts, a HUGE raw duck breast, Italian fig syrup, petit toasts, and, the crowning glory, a massive tub of foie gras mousse. I squealed aloud when I opened this.

If it tastes like a duck...

Despite a fully booked food weekend, I at least managed to break out one of those smoked duck breasts for lunch on Sunday. Just LOOK at this gorgeousness.

If you can distract yourself from this stunning breast for a moment, you'll notice that I also got a new light box as an early birthday gift. Yay!

I piled the breast slices on a toasted ciabatta roll, added some lovely melted comté, arugula, and a spread I made by mixing mayo with some cherry jam my friend Mia had recently brought me from The Cherry Hut in Beulah, Michigan. Absolutely fantastic.

It's an embarassment of riches around here. Really. Thank you all for a delicious forty years.